Unexpected
by KareKazeshini
Summary: Just a story of how an unexpected love came between Sanji and Zoro
1. A fine drink

**Chapter 1 – A fine drink**

It has been more than a week since they left Thriller Bark, and Sunny and the Straw Hat Crew had been kept company by the sea ever since.

It was the middle of the afternoon, and the weather was invitingly warm. Out on the deck, there was Zoro, who was sleeping against one of the trees, Usopp, who was sitting on the grass concentrated and probably creating some new things to improve his attacks, Brook, who was just lying on the grass enjoying the sun he for so long had to avoid, Nami, who was sitting and reading a book while enjoying the nice breeze on her face and also Luffy, who was rolling on the grass out of boredom, near the girl.

"Namiiiii~ Is the Fishermen Island still too far away? I'm tired of being here… I want to go to an island!" the captain said, pouting.

"I don't know, but my guess is that the Fishermen Island is still far away." The navigator sighed as she said it. That boy was so impatient, why couldn't he just go and do something he enjoyed, instead of bugging her. "But I think…"

"NAMI-SWAN!" Oh! Why couldn't she just have a peaceful time while reading? "Nami-swan! Do you want a nice cool drink I prepared with all my love?" Sanji stopped near her, lowering a board with a refreshing drink right in front of her.

"Oh! Here comes the love-idiot… It was so nice and quiet."

"JUST GO BACK TO SLEEP YOU SHITTY MARIMO!"

'_I don't quite know how Zoro thought it was nice and quiet with Luffy whining around...'_ Nami thought to herself with a sweat drop_. 'Well… never mind'_ she really didn't care. "Actually, I could really use a drink." She replied smiling to the blond man with heart shaped eyes.

"Robin-chan already took my offer."

"Sanji! I want some too!" Luffy requested.

"Just get your ass in the kitchen and get it yourself, I left some there."

Luffy ran to the kitchen right away. "Oi Luffy! Bring me some too please" Usopp shouted.

Nami drank a little of it, it was refreshing and tasted so good. Just what she needed to relax her mind. Sanji could be a bit annoying when being too much enthusiastic towards her, but he never failed her when bringing her food or drinks, it was like he could read her mind of what she wished.

"Enjoying it?" The cook asked with a big smile on his face.

"It is really good! Just what I needed in this warm weather!"

"Your lovely knight always knows what you want, it's the power of love!" Nami listened to Sanji's babbling with another sweat drop, thinking _'Sure, sure'_.

"Whoa! It really is good" Usopp said as Luffy had already come back with a drink for each of them.

"Anything Sanji does is very good!" Luffy stated with a big grin.

"Yohohohoho! I want to taste it as well!"

"WHOAAA! BROOK! DON'T JUST APPEAR BEHIND ME LIKE THAT! You scared me!" Usopp screamed "And don't drink MY drink! Go get one yourself!"

"Yohohohoho! It sure is tasty, Sanji-san."

"Thanks Brook, but it was specially made for the ladies"

"Everything you make is specially made for the ladies…" Zoro stated as he approached the group.

"Nobody asked your opinion, you shitty head."

"I don't need to be asked to say my opinion, curly eyebrow. It's MY opinion, so I say it whenever I want" Zoro said as he stole Luffy's glass from his hands and drank a bit himself.

"Don't come insult me and then drink what I prepared!" Sanji shouted angrily.

"Oh! It's actually good!" the swordsman commented with the captain.

"It is, right?" Luffy replied happily. "OI ZORO! Don't steal my drink! Don't drink anymore of it! It's mine!" the black-haired boy shouted at Zoro, suddenly realizing what just happened, ripping his glass from Zoro's hands.

"Nami-san, I was just thinking how beautiful you looked in that wedding dress." Sanji suddenly stated, his eyes heart shaped once again.

"Uh-oh… Here it comes again" Usopp and Zoro said at the same time. Ever since they left Thriller Bark, Sanji would often start fantasizing with Nami in that wedding dress.

"Nami-san really looked so beautiful and wonderful. You looked like an angel~."

"Well… thank you, I guess" she smiled slightly at the blond.

"But… but to think that Nami-san only got in that dress, because a pervert tried to force you to marry him… IT MAKES ME ANGRY!" Sanji's eyes were now on fire as he talked.

'_Pervert? Look who's talking…'_ the long-nosed boy thought.

"Thank you for crashing that wedding. It would be terrible if I married that guy…" the girl said with disgust all over her face.

"I would never allow Nami-san marry anyone. Though she looks cute in a wedding dress, she should only wear if the groom was me, a real gentleman!"

"I have no intentions of marrying you, Sanji-kun" she couldn't be more honest, so she said it smiling.

Sanji was suddenly on his knees, with his hands on the grass, a dark cloud over him "Nami-san broke my heart."

'_You're over reacting'_ Usopp thought to himself, sure that he wasn't the only one thinking the same.

Zoro started laughing hard at the scene before him. "Like anyone would ever marry you!" he managed to say between his laughing.

"What did you say, «I'm sorry I was born»-guy?" Sanji was suddenly up and the green-haired teen stopped laughing.

"You want to start a fight, shitty-cook?"

"Anyway… what did you mean you won't allow me marrying anyone? I would be glad if you stopped any marriage of mine that I was forced into, but… if I want to marry that person, you better not interrupt the marriage!" Nami simply said.

There was this long silence, during which Sanji just held a shocking expression on his face.

"Nami-san wants to get marry?"

"OF COURSE NOT! Not now… But I'm just saying that if in the future I do want to get marry, you don't have power of not allowing it to happen."

Sanji stayed silent for some seconds thinking, before saying "If Nami-san wanted to marry a guy, it would be because he makes her happy. If Nami-san is happy, of course I wouldn't ruin her wedding. Everything for my most beautiful flower's happiness! Unless the guy is a jerk. If you chose someone like this guy" he pointed to Zoro "I wouldn't take it easy. But I trust Nami-san's taste!"

"OI! What's that supposed to mean?" The swordsman shouted angrily.

"Come on, Zoro. You said «Like anyone would ever marry you!» to Sanji, but comparing to you he has better chances of getting married. At least he treats ladies right, unlike you." Nami said, remembering how Zoro calls her sea-witch sometimes.

This time it was Sanji's turn to laugh out loud. "What do you mean?" Zoro yelled at Nami "And you shut up!" he ordered Sanji with an angry face.

"I think Nami means neither of you has good chances of ever getting married!" Luffy said grinning.

"Like you're one to talk!" Sanji and Zoro shouted at their captain at the same time, but Luffy just started laughing.

'_I think Luffy's right'_ Nami thought to herself. She couldn't imagine either of them getting married. Zoro, though he sometimes was gentleman, she couldn't imagine him treating a girl in a romantic way. Sanji was the opposite, he flirted with every cute girl he met, would he ever be able to pay attention to one girl alone?

"Like I would ever want to get married" She heard Zoro saying. They were still arguing, and Luffy was still laughing, joined by Usopp and Brook. The orange-haired girl looked at her glass that sadly was almost empty and suddenly remembered what she was saying when Sanji interrupted her to give her the drink.

"Oh Luffy!" The guys stopped talking and laughing and looked at her "I was saying to you that I saw on some map that we might be near an island. If we take a little shunt from where the log pose is taking us, we might run into that island."

"Isn't the log pose pointing to the Fishermen Island? I want see it, so I don't want shunts!" Luffy said with his eyes shining.

"WEREN'T YOU THE ONE WHO SAID YOU WERE TIRED OF BEING HERE AND WANTED AN ISLAND? We still don't know how long it will get us to arrive Fishermen Island, nor how to get there, so we might need supplies."

"But won't the log pose adjust itself to that island? We'll lose the track of the Fishermen Island" Brook pointed out.

"WHAT? We can't lose that track! We're not stopping at any island" the captain said.

"Stupid! I'll ask how long it takes for it to adjust, so we'll leave before it does, okay?"

"What if it only takes two seconds?"

"I don't think it ever adjust that quickly, Luffy."

"We can never know! Let's not risk!"

"I'm with Nami-san. We need supplies. If we don't buy food, we might not have enough until we get to the Fishermen Island. You'll starve to death Luffy." Sanji said calmly.

"YOSH! Let's go to that unknown island then!"

'_That was easy...'_ Nami thought. "Without a log pose pointing to that island, and since we are at the unpredictable waters of the Grand Line, and compasses don't work here, I'm not sure we can find to that island, but I'll try. So everyone be alert. If anyone sees an island, please report to me."

* * *

><p><em>So this is the first time I have written a fanfic. The first chapter doesn't say much, but it sure was fun to write =P English is not my mother language, so I'm sorry if there's grammar mistakes or other mistakes.<em>

_So I had this story plan for a while, but I never thought of how it would start, how would the first chapter be. I just thought of starting with Sanji bringing a drink to Nami. I don't know why, but decided that I wanted Sanji to fantasize with Nami in a wedding dress and the rest of the conversation just came to me naturally, but I gotta admit I was quite pleased on how that conversation ended. =)_

_It might not look like it yet, but this will be a Zoro and Sanji pairing story. I hope you like it! Please tell me what you think.  
><em>


	2. A new island on sight

**Chapter 2 - A new island on sight**

That night, it was Brook's turn to stay watch during the night. Zoro was going to train for a while during the night, so he said Brook could sleep for a while, and when he was done training he would wake him up, so he could perform his duty.

When the swordsman was finally done with his training, he woke up Brook, who was sleeping in a very weird position, his head leaning against a wall and his body making 45 degree angle with the floor, and he went for a quick shower.

After the shower, he headed to the men's quarter. Luffy, Usopp and Chopper slept at the top beds of the bunk beds, while Franky, Sanji and Zoro slept at the bottom beds. Franky slept on the one further from the door, under Usopp, Sanji on the one closest to the door, under Chopper and Zoro on the middle on, under Luffy. When the green-haired teen entered the room, he noticed with annoyance that someone was not respecting that order. Sanji was sleeping half on his own bed, and half on Zoro's bed. His legs rested on his bed, but his head and shoulders were on the other's bed, while his torso rested on nothing that was the gap between the two beds.

Zoro felt an urge to punch the blond, but didn't since it would generate lots of yelling that would wake everyone up. As he tried to restrain himself, he noticed that there was a lantern hanging on Sanji's bed and a book resting near his legs. Did the cook fell asleep while reading and slid to the side until his head was resting on the other's bed? _'He should have slid to the other side and he would have met the co__ld __and hard floor…' _Zoro thought with an evil smirk.

Punching Sanji was definitely not a good choice. The rest of the boys looked so peaceful and he didn't want to ruin that. Those three on top during the day were often doing stupid things, but sleeping they just looked like three nice and quiet kids. Franky was always doing that weird dance and screaming "SUPER!" and now he was just calmly laying down and not saying his favorite word.

"Super…" the cyborg mumbled in his sleep. _'I was wrong!'_ Zoro thought to himself with sweat drop. He then observed the man who invaded his bed. He looked quite peaceful, an expression far from any he used to see during the day that annoyed him so much. His irritation and urge to punch him grew smaller. He didn't feel like punching someone sleeping with such a serene look on his face. He didn't know how to wake up people gently, and he sure didn't want to hear the yelling, and he definitely wasn't going to put him back on his bed, _'I'm not his mother!__'_. So since he couldn't figure out what to do he just left.

* * *

><p>As usual, Sanji was the first one to wake up among the boys. He felt that his torso wasn't resting on anything, so he opened his eyes to find half of him on Zoro's bed.<p>

'_I'm in deep shit!' _was his first thought. Then he realized it was morning already, he was sure that the swordsman would punch if he had found him, _'Did he stay __up __training all night?'_ he asked himself.

He left the room and the first thing he saw out on the deck was the green-haired man sleeping on the grass with his arms, legs and mouth open. _'It sure is a bigger bed__'_ he thought as he walked towards the kitchen, _'Was he so tired that he couldn't even make __it __to the men's quarter? Lucky me__.__'_

As he entered the kitchen he saw Robin reading a book while drinking coffee.

"Good morning Robin-chan. Do you need anything? Are you hungry?" he asked.

"Good morning cook-san. I'm fine thank you. I just wanted a cup of coffee, I'll wait for the rest of the crew to eat breakfast" she replied smiling.

"Did you too wonder why is that idiot sleeping outside?"

"Yes I did. I actually ran into Brook-san and asked him if swordsman-san was up all night, but he said he wasn't. Apparently he finished his training not too late and Brook-san saw him entering the men's quarters, but when he noticed later, he was already sleeping outside."

Sanji was confused. That didn't make sense.

"He's weird." Robin just smiled at his statement and went back to her book, while Sanji started preparing breakfast.

After some minutes the peaceful silent in the kitchen was cut by a terrifying scream coming from some other part on the ship.

"Was that Nami-san?" Sanji asked shocked to Robin, who had a worried look on her face.

* * *

><p>Nami was dreaming of a nice field full of flowers and surrounded by orange trees. She, as a child, and Nojiko were happily playing while Bellemere was watching them.<p>

"Nami-san" Nojiko called. Nojiko called? Why was she calling her Nami-_san_? And wasn't that a male's voice?

"Nami-san" Nojiko called again. That definitely was not her voice.

Nami slowly opened her eyes and her sight was a skeleton face way too near her own face. Nami screamed with all her might before realizing it was her crewmate.

"Brook! What are you doing? You're too close!" She yelled at him.

"May I see your panties?"

"NO!" Before she could punch him, Brook was already flying to other side of the room.

"What the hell are you doing, you pervert?" Sanji shouted angrily."What did he do to you, Nami-san?"

"He just woke me up, and his face was too closed to mine. A skull is not a thing you want to see the first thing in the morning. It scared me." She confessed, noticing that Robin was also there.

"Yohohohoho! I'm sorry Nami-san. I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay. What do you want? I hope you didn't come here just to see my panties…" She said quickly before the blond could start yelling again.

"Of course not, I came to report to you that I have seen an island."

Nami stormed out of the room, followed by Sanji who was saying something like "Nami-san looks great even in pajamas" and Brook came right after, pointing to the direction where he saw the island. They barely noticed that the swordsman was now sitting with a very sleeping face.

"Okay. Sanji-kun, we need to change the direction."

"Sure Nami-san! Anything you say."

"Aren't you forgetting something, cook-san?" Robin reminded him.

"Oh right! Breakfast! I'm sorry Nami-san, I have to go."

"It's alright. Brook, come help me then."

"I'll be glad to help" the skeleton followed Nami, while the cook was already on his way to the kitchen followed by the other woman.

"That idiot! That's no proper way to wake up a lady…" Sanji grumbled.

"But you have to admit it was a bit funny" the black-haired woman commented, smiling.

"No it was not!" was the man's reply, but Robin could see a slight smile on the corner of his lips.

"I'm going to check on the flowers before breakfast, since I have already been ripped away from my book" she informed.

"Okay Robin-chan. I'll call you when it is ready."

Right after Robin had left, another crew member entered the kitchen.

"What is going on? Who was screaming?" Zoro asked, his faced clearly showing that he was not yet wide awake.

"That stupid Brook decided to wake up Nami-san with his face to close to hers. It scared her to have a skull that close to her as she woke up."

The swordsman started laughing, "I would have loved to see her face" he said amused.

"You're even worse than that skeleton" Sanji accused him. "Oh… what were you doing sleeping outside?"

"My bed was a bit occupied…"

The blond man froze, but then said "You could have woken me. I didn't mean to fell on your bed".

"I didn't want to wake everyone."

"I said wake ME up. Not everyone."

"If I woke you up, you would yell and wake up everyone else."

"What kind of logic is that? Can't you wake up a person nicely?"

Zoro thought for a bit and then replied "No I can't".

"You're hopeless" Sanji sighed. "But I'm sorry… for stealing your bed. And thanks for not punching me."

"I did felt like it for some moments…"

"Why didn't you sleep on the couch?"

"Hmmm… I don't know… It was warm outside. The grass is fluffy and more spacey."

'_He can sleep anywhere, so I don't think he cares that much.'_ The cook thought. A few seconds later, Franky entered the kitchen.

"I started wondering if neither of you had woken up, if you had gone def" Sanji said to Franky. The women's quarter was right above the men's quarter.

"Oh we did wake up. That scream startled me a bit, but it was worse for Usopp. That bro got so startled he fell of his bed and hit his head on the floor and passed out. Chopper started panicking, thinking we were under attack or something, while Luffy only sat down and asked what was going on and fell asleep again. I heard Nami yelling «Brook what are you doing?», so I figured it was nothing serious. It took me a while to calm Chopper down, so he could take a look at Usopp."

"Agitated morning, huh?" Zoro said smirking at Franky's tired face.

* * *

><p><em>I'm sorry if once again nothing special happens. It's just that writting about Straw Hat's daily life is so much fun. *.*<em>

_I have no idea how came up with that Brook waking up Nami, but I thought it ended up funny ^^'_


	3. Playing cards

**Chapter 3 – Playing cards**

Thousand Sunny reached the new island by the end of the morning and Nami, Luffy and Franky had gone out for a quick visit to the nearer city. They came back right on time for lunch.

"That city is boring" Luffy said during lunch.

"It's just a normal city, not very agitated, but it has plenty of stores where we can stock up for various things. It's not a big island, so it the only city here" Nami informed "Apparently it takes two months for the log pose to adjust, so no worries about it. But they are not very welcoming to pirates; a nice lady advised me to port the ship not very near the city. Somewhere near the forest, maybe we can find a nice place, where Sunny isn't too exposed."

The rest of the crew agreed.

* * *

><p>When all of them had finished eating, Usopp suddenly got up and announced "I have something to show you all. Nobody moves" and stormed out of the kitchen. Everybody looked confused at each other.<p>

He was back right away saying "I have finally finished the very special Straw Hat crew's own deck of card, that I have drew myself", he showed them the deck of cards and everyone looked at it with their eyes open.

"What do you mean Straw Hat crew's own deck of card? What's so special about?" Zoro asked.

"Ha-ah! I'll show you" he started looking for some specific cards while saying "The king of the red cards… The future Pirate King, Luffy!" and he showed them two cards that had Luffy drawn on two different poses.

"Uhhhh! This is very good Usopp!" the captain complemented.

Usopp grinned and showed two more cards "The king of the black cards, the great Sogeking!"

"And the queen of the black cards, Robin!"

"Robin-chan looks so lovely!" Sanji exclaimed.

"Long-nose-kun sure is talented."

"Eh eh, thanks Robin."

"And of course Nami is the queen of the red cards." Usopp kept going, ignoring Sanji saying how beautiful Nami was. "As for the jacks, Zoro is the jack of the black cards and Sanji is the jack of the red cards."

"What about me?" Chopper asked excited.

"You're the red cards' ace. And Franky's the ace of the black cards."

"Amazing!" Chopper's eyes were shining.

"And Brook's the joker!"

"Is that good?" Brook asked innocently.

"Oi, what about you Usopp? You're not at any of the cards" Luffy commented.

"That's right!" Chopper said surprised.

The rest of the crew just had a sweat drop, as they couldn't believe how these two still hadn't figured out that Usopp was Sogeking.

"Ah well… ah ah… I guess I forgot" Usopp tried to explained himself.

"You have to be in the cards" Luffy demanded.

"That's right, I see you did only two Joker, you should do two more jokers with yourself." Sanji said.

Usopp hesitated, but with Luffy shouting that a Sanji's idea was good and he should do it, he ended up agreeing that he would do it later.

The Straw Hats started leaving the kitchen little by little and after a while only Sanji, who was washing the dishes, Luffy, who was still amazed at the cards, Usopp, who was loving being praised by his captain and Zoro, who had nothing else to do, were still on the kitchen.

"Let's play! Sanji, Zoro! Come play with us!" Luffy suddenly said.

Sanji and Zoro were a bit reluctant at the beginning, but ended up agreeing. They started playing a game with pairs: Luffy and Sanji against Zoro and Usopp.

"Luffy! Just learn the damn rules! If you don't know the rules we can't win!" the blond yelled at his partner after a while.

"Eh? But we won the first round."

"That was luck! Now learn the rule or I'll kick your ass! I don't want to lose to that marimo."

Before Zoro could answer Franky, Brook and Chopper entered the kitchen.

"We're going to the city, I need to buy some materials and so does Chopper." Franky informed.

"Can you buy me some things?" Usopp asked.

"Sure, long-nose."

"Where's Nami-san and Robin-chan?"

"They already left. Probably went shopping for clothes."

"I wanted to go to the city with them!" Sanji complained. "Can you buy me some things as well?"

"Why do I have to buy everything for everybody?" the cyborg shouted angrily.

"Oi! Don't get mad! I just need a few things more immediately, the rest I'll buy by myself tomorrow or something."

"I can buy it for you, Sanji-san."

"Thank you Brook."

After those three left, they kept playing cards during the whole afternoon, until they agreed it was enough and they should stop. By that time Zoro and Usopp were at a corner with a dark cloud on top of them.

"I can't believe we lost when Luffy never learned the rules…" the swordsman whispered in a sad tone.

"And by too many points… Sanji's a worthy opponent" the long-nosed boy murmured, defeat all over his voice.

"And Luffy's luck is unbeatable" Zoro finished.

"Shishishishi! I'm the best at playing cards" the straw hat boy said with a wide smile on his face.

'_Actually I'm good at it… You're just lucky'_ the cook thought to himself, but didn't say it out loud and just smiled along with his captain.

The green-haired teen suddenly stepped away from his dark corner and stated "I'm going outside for a walk".

The rest of the boys just nodded, but a few seconds after they realized what he said and Usopp and Sanji run outside after him.

"Oi Zoro!" the sniper called out for him.

"What?" he replied, he was already off the ship, stepping into the forest.

"Don't go get lost" Usopp advised him.

"Yeah don't go too far away. If you get lost we won't go after you to find you!" Sanji shouted.

'_What are they talking about?'_ Zoro thought annoyed "I won't get lost".

"Yeah right…" was the answer from the other two.


	4. A talk at the crow's nest

**Chapter 4 - A talk at the crow's nest**

"Nami-san and Robin-chan had dinner with some guys? Why?" Sanji asked in a crying tone.

"They offered to pay us dinner. We have to save money" the navigator replied winking. "The restaurant they took us was very nice, right Robin?"

"Yes, it was quite pleasant. The food was delicious."

"Better than mine?" the cook asked with watery eyes.

"Hmmm… Your food is always the best, Sanji-kun. But that restaurant was pretty good. And the best part was that it was for free." The orange-haired girl had belli instead of eyes while saying this. "I saw Franky, Chopper and Brook in the city, but the rest of you stayed the whole day on the ship?"

"Usopp's cards fun! Me and Sanji won against Usopp and Zoro" Luffy replied with a wide smile.

"You should go out, now that we are on an island… But if you four stayed here, where's Zoro?"

They were all out on the deck when Nami and Robin had come back, some hours after dinner, and Zoro was the only one missing.

"Oh he hasn't come back yet" Usopp replied, while Luffy and Sanji nodded.

"What do you mean he hasn't come back yet?" the navigator frown, knowing what answer was coming.

"He said he was going for a walk, we told him not get lost, but he probably did" the sniper said, shrugging.

"Of course he got lost! How could you let him go alone? Sanji-kun, go find him" she ordered.

"Eh? Why should I go find that idiot?" the blond said frustrated, not realizing he was denying a request from his dear Nami.

"Because it's you three's responsibility for letting him go by himself. I can't send Luffy, he might get lost as well and Usopp might get eaten by some plant or something."

"Nami-san trusts only me. I'll do as you say" Sanji said with hearts instead of eyes.

* * *

><p>Sanji was walking through the forest thinking why that idiot always gets lost. He couldn't care less if the guy got lost, but it irritated him that he was the one who had to go and find him. Okay that he was doing it for his lovely Nami-san, but still, if the stupid marimo had some sense of direction, he could be on the ship keeping company to two beautiful ladies.<p>

It didn't took him that much to find the green-haired teen. Actually he had the impression that he walked on a straight line to where the other man was, _'Lucky me'_ he thought. The swordsman was sleeping against a tree, _'Did he really decide to take a nap here?'_ the blond teen sighed.

His first impulse was to kick him in his head, but then he remembered how that man hadn't done that to him when he fell asleep on his bed. He actually had let him sleep there and went to sleep on the grass. _'The least I should do is waking him up nicely.'_

He stepped towards the swordsman and crouched near him. "Oi Zoro" he called, not talking too loud while poking him on the shoulder. He got no answer. "Zoro wake up" he tried one more time a bit louder, and shaking his shoulder lightly. Zoro just mumbled something incomprehensible, but he kept on sleeping. Sanji's impulse to kick the man came to him once again, but he controlled it. He tried a few more times, but it seemed that the green-haired teen wouldn't wake up in a nice way.

'_I can't believe I'm doing this'_ the cook grabbed the sleeping man's body, putted it over his shoulder gently, not to wake him up, and carried him back to the ship.

* * *

><p>Zoro felt someone holding and landing him on something soft; he opened his eyes and saw a blond head near his face. He felt his heart suddenly beating faster and closed his eyes immediately. Why was Sanji putting him in bed? And why was he doing it so gently?<p>

He heard a puff announcing that Sanji has fallen on his own bed. He dared to open one eye slightly and saw the cook breathing profoundly; he had already fallen asleep. Why was his heart beating so fast? Why was he feeling so nervous and embarrassed?

* * *

><p>Zoro woke up in the morning with that feeling that he had been having some weird dreams that he couldn't remember. As he got up, he noticed the room was empty; he had been the last one to wake up.<p>

He left the men's quarter, his feet leading him to the kitchen and greeted whoever passed by him on his way. When he entered the kitchen, Sanji was the only one there.

"Good morning" the cook greeted automatically.

"Morning" he replied sleepy.

"The breakfast is almost ready, maybe you could start calling the rest of the crew…"

"Yesterday I took a nap on the forest" he said, ignoring what the other just said.

"Because you couldn't find your way back" Sanji completed.

"No, I just felt like taking a nap" the swordsman lied. "I was a bit sleepy, but I woke up and I think you were putting me on my bed."

The blond teen was a bit surprised, but he nodded. He wasn't counting that the other to have wakened up.

"Did you carry me from the forest? I have legs, you know… I can walk" he continued.

"As far as I know you're not sleepwalking yet, so you can't walk while sleeping."

"You could have wakened me up."

"I tried. You were sleeping like a stone. I thought of kicking you, but decided not to. Take it as me returning the favor for not waking me up with the punch the other night."

It made some sense. Zoro stayed quiet for some seconds, but finally said "I didn't do it only because I didn't want to wake up the others. You didn't have to carry me around".

"You slept on the grass."

Zoro was a bit a confused by this statement, just realizing what he meant a few seconds later. He opened his mouth, but he didn't really have anything to say, so he closed it again. Then he walked towards the door, saying that he was going to call the others.

* * *

><p>Sanji spent almost the entire day out in the city shopping, but at the end of the afternoon he was back on the ship and he was on his way to the crow's nest. When he entered the room he saw the swordsman training there.<p>

"I don't even know why I am surprised to see you here" he said has he sat near one of the windows. "Were you on the ship for the whole day?"

"Yes, I kept watch while you all went to the city."

The blond just hummed in response, while looking out the window.

"Why are you here?" the green-haired teen asked.

"I felt like watching the sea for while before I start preparing dinner. Luffy, Usopp and Chopper are also back already and are making too much noise down on the deck, so I came up here, as I wanted a bit quiet."

Zoro didn't say anything else and Sanji let himself sunk into his own thoughts as he looked to the sea. He wondered how Zeff and the others were doing back at the restaurant. He thought about people they have met during their trip, like Vivi, she surely was performing her duties as a princess perfectly. He remembered how he met which one of his nakama. He thought about how it all started, how Luffy would count him as a crew member, even though he kept on refusing. He surely didn't regret changing his mind. They had been through so many ever since…

"What are you looking at?" Sanji was ripped off from his thoughts as the swordsman said those words. He didn't even notice, but he had gone from observing the sea to looking at the other man training. Well, not exactly looking, his eyes were looking his way, but he wasn't paying any attention.

"I wasn't actually looking" he simply said. Zoro knew it was true, he could see that his mind was far from that room, but it still bothered him his eye was looking his way.

Now that green-haired teen had caught his attention the cook was observing the other man. He kept like that for a while before asking "Don't you get tired of training?"

"No I don't."

"Really? I mean… if you're not sleeping, you're probably training…"

"You're job in this boat is being the cook. Mine is being the swordsman, if I'm weak, I'm useless. And besides I have a man I have to defeat. So I train. I'm still too weak."

"You think you're weak?"

"I'm not even strong enough to protect my crew… Back there… All I could do was to give my life. I couldn't even fight. The reason we're alive is because our enemy had mercy. If he wanted he could have killed us all."

Sanji knew exactly how he felt. He too had failed to protect the crew at Thriller Bark. He was ready to die for them, but in the end he just looked like a fool compared to Zoro.

"Just remember you don't have to protect everyone by yourself."

"Right… you'll protect the women."

"I'll protect specially the ladies, yes."

"Don't you get tired of flirting with the girls?" it was Zoro's turn to ask.

"No… Why? Are you jealous?"

"Why would I be jealous?" the swordsman yelled.

"Look… I would rather if you didn't get that near to the ladies. But if you promise me you'll treat the one interested like a princess, I…"

"I'm not interested in either of them" Zoro cut him off and Sanji felt like he was telling the truth. "Don't you get tired of always preparing them stuff and being always after them?"

"I don't get tired, because I care about them and it makes them happy."

"Makes them happy? Don't you think you're being annoying? Robin doesn't complain because she's too polite and her patient is big enough to tolerate idiocy from anyone on this ship, including yours. Nami doesn't complain because it's an opportunity to use you the way she wants."

"Nami doesn't use me. I do whatever I do for her because it makes me happy to help her any way she wants. And maybe sometimes I might be a little annoying, how knows? But don't you think it makes them happy to have delicious cakes or other things being brought to them whenever they wish?"

"Whatever… if that's what you believe. But my point is if you're doing something you like, you don't get tired."

Sanji nodded. "Well I'm off to make dinner" he said as he left the crow's nest.

'_Tch… Jealous? Like I would be jealous…'_ Zoro thought to himself as he put down his weights and sit down by the window. He definitely wasn't interested in any of the girls, but seeing the blond man always pursuing them really annoyed him, but it surely wasn't jealousy. It just annoyed him because of the cook's idiocy, right? Because that's how the man was, he was annoying.

The swordsman wasn't even sure of his own thoughts as the memory of last night came to his mind, how his heart had started to beat so fast. He shoved that thought away by telling himself that the only reason his heart was racing so much was pure surprised. That's right, he just wasn't counting on it.

* * *

><p><em>So to make up for the last chapter, where nothing special really happened, this chapter has some things going on.<em>

_I hope you like. Please tell what you think?_


	5. The fight

**Chapter 5 – The fight**

Sometime after dinner, Zoro went to the kitchen to get some sake. When he entered the room, he saw Sanji sharpening one of his kitchen knives. The blond gave him a quick look to see who just came in and went back to his task. The swordsman kept on watching him, he was taking care of his knife with so much affection that he almost compared with himself taking care of his swords. He remembered once hearing Sanji complaining about how he once had to use kitchen knives to fight an enemy and he wondered how it would be to see the cook fighting without using his feet, but using blades instead. He was definitely curious.

He shook his thought away and started looking for the sake.

"If you're looking for the sake, it is over there" Sanji said and decided to point with his knife at the same time Zoro was getting up from looking somewhere under the sink, which resulted on the green-haired teen getting a cut on the palm of his hand from the cook's sudden move.

"AH! Damn it!" the swordsman cursed. Sanji just got his eyes wide open in shock. How could he be so careless?

"I… I'm so sorry! I was careless. Let me see it" he grabbed the other man's hand to check if it was too bad. As Zoro felt the other hold his hand, his heart skipped a beat and slapped his hand away by reflex.

"Don't touch me you worthless piece of shit."

"Wow I get that you're angry and that this is my fault, but right now I'm just trying to help."

"Next time you want to help me, just try not to cut my hand" Zoro shouted hatefully.

Sanji was not expecting Zoro to be that angry, so he was a still shocked. "Calm down… I said I'm sorry. Now will you just let me see it?"

"Tch… Can't you do anything right?" The swordsman felt really angry, he just wanted to unleash it all on the cook, so the shouted "I don't know how Luffy invited a person like you to his crew." He barely had time to finish this sentence before he felt a hit on his chest and he flew to the other side of the kitchen. The blonde's expression had gone from a mix of shock and worry to pure anger. He looked even angrier than Zoro seconds ago.

"I don't see you complaining when you eat my food" the cook yelled.

"Oh right! Luffy only asked you to join because of the food…" the swordsman said with a smirk. He saw the other teen's pupils getting smaller as his anger grew stronger.

"Just get off my kitchen!" Zoro sent a fuming look his way but obeyed realizing he might have gone too far. The blond teen looked so angry, that he almost forgot his own anger from a few seconds. With the cook that angry, if he stayed there, their fight would definitely leave too much damage. Leaving was the right choice.

As Zoro left, he was a bit disturbed by Sanji's anger. No matter how many times they had fought, he had never given him such furious look. It was a look that he had seen him give to enemies. He didn't like it. He didn't like it one bit, that kind of look directed his way by the cook. Had he gone too far? Had he really pissed him off that hard? It disturbed him so much that he couldn't even remember why himself was angry in the first place. He suddenly looked at his bloody hand and remembered. Was a cut on his hand enough for him to get that angry? When Sanji had touched his hand, he felt something and couldn't say what it was, so he interpreted as anger. Was he right? After all the man had just cut his hand. He shook his head. He couldn't answer his own questions. He started looking for Chopper, so he could treat his wound.

Meanwhile Sanji had sat on one of the chairs at the dining table and had lit a cigarette. Zoro's words still hammering on his head. Now that he had calmed down a bit, his anger had transformed into fear. Fear that those words were true. What if Luffy had actually only invited him for the food? Sadness took over him and he felt his throat burning. Oh no! He was not going to cry. It was not like him. He swallowed, trying to ignore that feeling on his throat. And the way that marimo said it made it hurt even more. Like it was so obvious, like he agreed completely with it, like he was a despicable human being and his cooking had to be the only reasonable reason why he was on that ship. Sanji was tired of these thoughts, so when he finished his cigarette he lay down on the couch that was on the kitchen and fell asleep there. He didn't want to face anyone now, so he didn't want to go the men's quarters.

* * *

><p>The next day, everyone noticed something different about Sanji. He was a lot less talkative than usual. He didn't even make the usual fuss around the ladies. He sure acted nice to them, but his usual enthusiasm was missing. He barely talked during breakfast and he didn't yell, not even a single time, at Luffy or any of the others, just glaring deadly at the captain when he tried to steal something from his plate. The black-haired teen just swallowed in fear and retracted his hand carefully.<p>

Nami asked if he was okay, to which he replied he had had a bad night. And that was pretty clear from the cook's eyes. The navigator just didn't know if there was any reason behind his bad night.

Zoro thought about apologizing, he realized during the night that he actually didn't mean what he said. Sanji had gotten pretty angry and hadn't come to bed all night, so maybe apologizing was a good choice. However every time he got near him, the cook would start emitting such a dark aura that he couldn't even say a word, much less form an apologize, so he decided to keep away from the blond during the entire morning. Maybe he should try later, when he was calmer.

After lunch, he realized that a moment like that wouldn't come soon.

When they all finished eating, Sanji remembered that it was Zoro's turn to help him with the dishes. He couldn't let that happen. Maybe he could deceive them. He at least had to try.

"Luffy, will you help me with the dishes?" he asked, but all he earned was a confused look from his captain.

"Hmm Sanji… I helped you yesterday at night, so it should be Zoro's turn. Luffy got the next turn after Zoro" Usopp informed. The cook felt his blood boil as he restrained himself from kicking the sniper. Why did that liar had to speak the truth and ruin his plans?

"Really? I got confused. Well just help me anyway Luffy" Sanji tried to keep his cool.

"Eh? Why? I don't want to! It's Zoro's turn!"

"WELL THIS IS MY KITCHEN AND I'M RESQUESTING HELP FROM YOU SPECIFICALLY, SO YOU BETTER DO AS I SAY!" the cook roared and the rest of the crew just stared at him with their eyes wide open. They had noticed that today was not on a good day for the cook, but yelling like that wasn't normal and he used to yell a lot. Sanji felt embarrassed for his sudden snap, so he added in a low, but still a bit irritated voice "It's about time you learn how to wash dishes without breaking anything".

Everyone could see that it was not a day to disagree with cook, so Luffy had no other choice, even though he was terrified as Sanji threatened him to kick his ass and drop him on the sea if he broke one single dish. Zoro didn't say a word during the whole discussion nor even dared to look at the blond man. As soon as Luffy agreed to help him, the swordsman left the kitchen.

Outside on the deck, everyone was still worried about Sanji's reaction.

"Do you think something is going on between Sanji and Luffy?" Usopp asked Nami.

"W- what do you mean?"

The sniper shrugged, "I don't know, but no one in his perfect mind would request Luffy to wash dishes" he said walking away, leaving Nami alone on the deck thinking.

"Well I don't believe cook-san is in his perfect mind, is he?" the orange-haired got startled at hearing Robin's voice. "Don't worry navigator-san. I think the problem is between cook-san and swordsman-san."

"You mean Sanji-kun asked for Luffy to avoid Zoro?" Robin nodded.

"Shall we go to the city?"

"Let's just wait for Luffy. He and Usopp wanted to come with us."

* * *

><p>Zoro's intentions of apologizing weren't going any good. After lunch, Sanji went to the city. The swordsman went as well in hopes of finding him, but not only did he not find him, he also got lost. He ended up meeting Nami, Robin, Luffy and Usopp, so he was able to return to the ship safely.<p>

The cook returned to Sunny right on time to start making dinner, so he locked himself on the kitchen right away. Nami was still worried about him, so she went to the kitchen and tried to ask him, but all she got was a weak smile and a "I'm perfectly fine, if you count the bad night out". The heat was his explanation for a bad night. The navigator didn't buy it, but if he didn't want to tell her, she wouldn't insist.

Zoro decided that after dinner it was his opportunity. Since Luffy got his turn at lunch, it was now his turn to help out. After everyone had eaten, they started leaving little by little, until there was only Zoro and Sanji at the kitchen. The cook didn't notice at first as he was carrying the dishes to the sink. The moment he realized he was alone with the swordsman, the other man could see some what of panic in his face.

"What are you doing here?"

"Luffy got my turn earlier, so it's my turn now."

Sanji felt stupid for not thinking about that possibility. He had assumed that they would just let Zoro's turn skip, so he was counting on meeting Franky to help him.

"Well I don't need your help, so you can leave" the blond teen tried to say calmly.

"I won't. If I leave the rest will feel it's not fair, and they will later use this as an excuse for not helping as well. I can't skip my turn."

"I don't care. Just freaking leave."

"No."

Sanji took two steps in Zoro's direction and grabbed him by his collar. "I told you I don't need your fucking help. Are you here to rub on my face how much you hate me? You don't have to, because I already got it!" the cook yelled with his face filled with rage once again.

Zoro's mind was filled with confusion. Hate him? He was about to open his mouth to deny it, but the blond decided to add "Now, just fucking leave!" finally releasing his colar.

"No!" Zoro said firmly, forgetting about he was going to say before. He saw a flame flashing on Sanji's blue eye and he feared he was going to get kicked. Instead, the man just turned around and walked towards the door.

"If you don't leave, I will. Clean this mess by yourself."

Nami and Luffy were on the deck and heard Sanji screaming, though they couldn't understand what he was saying. They suddenly saw him storming out of the kitchen. Something was definitely really off about the cook today. It was impossible that he had washed the dishes already and Nami couldn't remember he ever leaving his kitchen before it was completely clean. He didn't even notice her and Luffy and he was about to jump off the ship, when she called out for him "Sanji-kun".

Said man looked around a bit surprised "Yes dear Nami-san?"

"Are you going somewhere?"

"I'm just going to take a walk. I'll be back shortly, don't you worry" he said smiling and jumped to the land, but she could see how forced that smile was.

Something was wrong with him since that morning. Well, since last night possibly, if she counted his bad night. Nami was sure the only one who remained in the kitchen was Zoro, because she had been the last one to leave. So Sanji must have been screaming at him. So Robin was right: the problem was between Sanji and Zoro.

She bit her lip in concern and looked to her captain who also had a bit of worry on his face, though the most obvious expression on his face was confusion. She didn't like seeing Sanji this upset and troubled and she definitely did not like seeing that Sanji going into a forest at night.

* * *

><p>As Sanji walked through the forest smoking a cigarette trying to calm down, too many thoughts ran through his mind. After dinner, he was actually calmer, but being alone with the swordsman there once again made those words said the night before start echoing on his head once again, so his anger came back to him and he ended up snapping at the green-haired man once again. Now, thanks to that event, his mind was working like crazy, thinking over and over <em>'What if those words are true?'<em>. After three cigarettes and a lot of walking his mind came up with an answer _'If it's true, it's true… if my food makes them happy, that's all I need to know. Even if it is the only thing they care about me, as long as they are happy with my food, I'll keep on cooking for them'_.


	6. Injured

**Chapter 6 - Injured**

Nami woke up early, the sky was already in a light color, but the sun hasn't risen yet. There was something bothering her that couldn't let her sleep any longer. She left the women's quarters silently, not to wake up the other woman. Her feet lead her to the kitchen unintentionally. She opened the door and looked at empty and silent area. Of course he wouldn't be cooking, it was still too early. Even though she told herself that, her heart still felt uneasy. She stepped out the kitchen and felt something crushing against her knees. She looked down and saw a pink hat.

"Chopper?"

"Ah Nami, you're up early."

"Did you stay on watch this night?"

Chopper nodded, noticing her worried face.

"Did you see Sanji?" the girl asked.

"Sanji? No… Why?" he asked confused.

"He went for a walk last night. I was wondering if you saw him coming back."

"I didn't see him. Maybe I was looking some other way when he came back." He saw concern growing stronger on the girl's face and he too started feeling worried, now that he knew her reasons.

"Should we check then?" they both got startled at hearing some other voice. They looked down and saw Robin standing on the grass looking up at them. They nodded and headed towards the men's quarters. As they walked in the room, Nami's fears proved to be right. Sanji's bed was empty and untouched.

Nami, Chopper and Robin exchanged concerned looks. "Oi mina! Wake up!" the orange-haired girl called. She had to repeat it twice before she got some reaction. Usopp sat down, rubbing his eyes, not even aware he was awake. Luffy also sat down, but kept his eyes closed and started mumbling that he was hungry. Zoro just growled something that sounded like "Let me sleep" and turned to the other side of his bed. Franky and Brook were the only ones who seemed to actually be awake.

"What's wrong Nami?" the cyborg asked worried, noticing the so obvious concerned look on her face. At hearing this Luffy's eyes suddenly snapped open and looked at the navigator.

"Something's wrong? Please tell me!" the captain wanted to know.

"It's Sanji… he hasn't come back yet."

Zoro sat down in a sudden move that startled that rest of them and looked at the empty bed by his side, now wide awake. "What do you mean he isn't back?"

"He went to take a walk on the forest last night. He's not back yet. He looked upset, I'm worried something could have happened."

"Don't worry. Sanji is strong. He'll be fine" Usopp tried to comfort her.

"He said he would be back shortly, right Luffy? He wouldn't lie to me if planned on staying out all night."

Before anyone could say anything, the swordsman was already on his way to the door saying "I'll go find him". However Nami grabbed his wrist with both her hands.

"Anyone but you, you'll get lost and we would have to find you as well." He felt insulted, but it wasn't the time to reply back and deep down he knew she had a point.

"I'll go!" the captain said immediately.

"I'll go with you" Franky offered.

* * *

><p>The crew was waiting nervously at the deck for their captain and shipwright to come back, sending looks towards the forest from time to time hoping to see them. Suddenly Luffy's voice came to their ears.<p>

"Chopper!" the captain was screaming this name repeatedly, but they couldn't see him yet. They all become more nervous as they knew that screaming that name so desperately didn't mean anything good.

The figure of their captain suddenly came to their sight, his face looking as desperate as his voice that kept calling the doctor's name. Right after him came the cyborg carrying something on his arms. Not something, someone. He was carrying an unconscious Sanji. All eyes suddenly directed on his red shirt. Red shirt? Wasn't the cook wearing a blue shirt yesterday? Shock crossed their faces as they realized that it was blood. His blue shirt had gone red from the blood. And his arm, it was making an angle that couldn't be natural.

"Quick! Franky, bring him to the infirmary."

* * *

><p>Nami and Robin decided to prepare something for breakfast, while the crew was waiting in the kitchen for news from the doctor. They had been silent most of the time. Not an uncomfortable silence, but an understanding and worried silence.<p>

Chopper finally came out looking tired.

"He's stable now. His breathing was too slow when you brought him, but now he's normal. His arm will heal just fine with time. He has some holes on his abdomen, but I'm most worried about the wound on his chest. He lost too much blood because of it." The reindeer informed.

"So he's going to be fine?" Usopp asked.

"Of course he's going to be fine! He's Sanji!" Luffy said.

Chopper just nodded at Usopp with a weak smile confirming Luffy's answer.

"I wondered what happened" Franky whispered and he knew everyone was wondering the same.

"Well Chopper, you should rest. You were on watch this night, so you must be very tired. We'll keep an eye on him, so don't worry." Nami said.

The doctor was a bit uncertain if he should go, but ended up agreeing and thanking her.

* * *

><p>By the end of the morning, Usopp and Luffy were playing cards at the infirmary, as it was their turn to keep an eye on Sanji. They suddenly heard a light groan and quickly turned their head towards the wounded man. It looked like he was waking up and making some effort to open his.<p>

"Sanji! Are you awake?" Luffy yelled in surprised. A lazy blue eye could now be seen.

"Mina! Sanji's awake!" Usopp screamed with all his might. Everyone in the ship was hoping to hear this during the entire morning, so neither of them had kept too distant from the infirmary. In a matter of seconds the whole crew was either inside the infirmary or at one of the doors, so it wouldn't be too crowded, being Zoro and Robin the last one to arrives, as they were the only one who didn't come running.

"You're too loud, dumbasses!" Sanji finally found the strength to talk.

"Hahahaha! He's back!" Luffy laughed.

"What happened?" the cook said as he made a slight movement to try to sit down, but gave up right away from the pain that crossed his body.

"That's what we want to ask you! We found you all covered in blood in the forest" Franky yelled.

"Oh so you found me. Good thing, huh?"

"Just tell us what happened to you."

"I ran into some bounty hunters. They had this big bear. Who the hell has a bear as a pet?"

"It doesn't matter, just keep going."

"I didn't hear them approaching me. When I finally heard them, it was too late… The freaking bear was already striking me on the chest. I felt like something was ripping apart from me."

"It almost did, you idiot! You barely have any skin on the right side of your chest. I could actually see a bit of one of your ribs." The doctor said worriedly.

"Really? I want to see it too." The blond said looking curious at his own bandaged chest.

"Me too! Me too!" the captain shouted.

"Shut up you two! It's not funny! You could have died from bleeding if we haven't found you!"

"Well you did found me and I feel great!" the cook said smiling. "Anyway even though I admit I got beaten more than my pride accepts from such weaklings, I'm happy to inform you that I kicked their asses…"

"You fought and managed to kick their asses with those injuries?" Usopp asked incredulous.

"Yep!" Sanji replied smiling self-satisfied. "But I passed out on my way to the ship."

"Of course you did! You lost too much blood." Chopper said a bit more relaxed, now that his patient was smiling happily.

Zoro smiled lightly to himself. It was nice to see that the idiot-cook was fine. He was actually smiling, while talking to the rest of crew. He looked to his side and saw the archeologist observing him and smiling "Good to see that cook-san is awake and fine, right?" he just hummed in response and left. Now that he had confirmed that he was fine, he didn't have anything else to do there.

* * *

><p>After lunch, Zoro was on the deck almost falling asleep, when he happened to overhear a conversation between the two women of the crew that were leaning on the railing.<p>

"Ne Robin… I was thinking about what Sanji-kun told us. He said he didn't hear the guys approaching him." Nami started.

"That's what he said."

"Sanji normally would notice an enemy presence way before they could get too close to him. He would kick them before the guys could even think of attacking him by surprise."

"I guess you're right. I found that odd as well."

"Before he left, he… he looked upset and troubled. Something was disturbing his mind. I think that's why he didn't hear them coming."

Robin stayed a quiet for a bit. "I did notice during the day that cook-san was not on his usual self."

"I think you were right yesterday" the navigator said exchanging a look full of meaning with the older woman. "Right before he left, he was yelling in the kitchen. I didn't understand what he said, but it was quick. It didn't take him too much before he stormed out of the kitchen."

"You mean that you think it was an extension of another discussion."

"Yes…" the orange-haired girl sighed. "I think I'm going to ask him what happened yesterday and the night before. He really got me worried, looking so disturbed." She said starting to walk towards the infirmary.

Zoro felt a bit of guilt as he heard this conversation. So the reason the cook not noticing his attackers was his discussion with him. He then noticed that Luffy was following Nami with his eyes. He was sure the captain couldn't hear their conversation from where he was, but the black-haired boy looked with curiosity towards the navigator, probably wondering where she was going so determined.


	7. Apologizing

**Chapter 7 - ** Apologizing**  
><strong>

Nami stepped into the infirmary and saw Usopp and Chopper there.

"Look Sanji, I followed your advice, I made two joker cards with myself" the long-nosed boy said showing two cards to the blond teen.

"Isn't it cool? Isn't it cool?" Chopper had his eyes shining.

"I knew you would follow my advice" Sanji said grinning.

"Usopp, Chopper… I would like to have a word with Sanji-kun" Nami said softly.

"Nami-swan!"

"Oh okay… But Sanji has to rest" the doctor said.

"I'll make sure he rests after I talk to him" she assured smiling.

The two boys left and the orange-haired girl sat at the corner of the bed.

"So what it is that lovely Nami-san wants to talk to me" Sanji asked in his goofy tone.

"Well yesterday before you went for your walk, you seemed pretty upset and disturbed. It made me worry. I think that's why you didn't hear those bounty hunters approaching. What was troubling you so much?" the navigator decided to go straight to the subject.

The cook had a surprised expression on his face, but it soon relaxed into a soft look. "You don't have to worry about it, Nami-san. It was nothing."

"Don't lie to me, Sanji-kun. If it was nothing, you could have just told me. It was Zoro, wasn't it? You guys fought again."

Once again the blond looked surprised, but then he sighed. "Yes, I had a fight with him again" he admitted.

"You guys fight a lot of times. You two forget about it one second after the fight is over. Not once I have seen you troubled after one. What happened this time?" her tone was soft and worried.

"It doesn't matter, it was silly. It's alright now."

"Have you talked to him ever since?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"No, but-"

"Why don't you just tell me what happened? Then maybe I can agree with you that it was silly."

"I'm not bothered by it anymore" he said, but the woman just gave him a demanding look.

"Okay, okay… just help me sit down. I don't like to talk while laying." He finally gave up.

She did so, noticing grimaces of pain in his face, while doing so. After he was comfortably sitting, he told her Zoro's exact words from two nights ago and how their discussion had started.

"Oh so that's why he had his hand bandaged." Sanji flinched at this statement. That idiot… he could have used his hand as an excuse to ditch washing dishes the next day. "What about yesterday night? What did he do?"

"Nothing… he didn't do anything…" he admitted. "He just wanted to help with the dishes, but being alone with him again made me freak out again… It was like he was saying those words again."

"Sanji-kun…" she said soft and sweetly.

"It's stupid… At that time I feared those words were true. But now I know it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you all are happy eating my food." He said smiling. A smile that made Nami wonder. How could it be it so honest and so forced at the same time? So happy and so sad simultaneously?

"It's not true!" they both got startled as their captain stepped into the room saying those words. "It's not true Sanji. I didn't want you to join the crew just because of the food, though it was part of the reason, that's why we went to Baratie after all. But if I just wanted a cook, there were plenty there, I could have asked any of them. But I met you and I saw that you were a kind person. You fed a man, not caring if he was a pirate without money. In that moment I knew you were the only cook I wanted on my crew. And after seeing you kick like that, I was even surer. You were so cool! And I'm glad I did, because beside those reasons, your food is the best"

Sanji stared surprised at his captain, still thinking about his words. Nami had some tears at the corner of her eyes. Luffy suddenly wrapped one of his arms around the cook's neck and said grinning "you're one of my nakama. Don't ever think less of yourself than you really are". Nami laughed and embraced the two boys before her.

"YOSH! I can't believe Zoro said that. I'm going to kick his ass."

Zoro flinched at hearing this, just like Luffy, he had been hearing the conversation, though from the side of the kitchen. He rushed out of the kitchen to the crow's nest at the same time he heard the doctor entering the room and yelling that Sanji shouldn't be sitting.

* * *

><p>Luffy climbed to the crow's nest some minutes after Zoro, giving him enough time to pretend he was training.<p>

"Zoro!" his captain yelled with a serious and angry look. "I know what you said to Sanji. I'm going to kick your ass!"

Feeling danger approaching, the swordsman quickly said "I didn't mean what said Luffy. I was angry, words came out of my mouth without me meaning them", he sighed "I'm sorry".

Luffy's expression had gone softer "Well, it's not me you have to apologize…" he said, leaving. He knew he didn't have to anything else to the swordsman.

* * *

><p>Sanji had been sleeping since the conversation he had with Nami. After dinner Zoro offered to bring Sanji dinner. As he opened the door of the infirmary, Sanji immediately started opening his eyes.<p>

"Finally waking up? You're almost rivaling up to me."

"Shut up. I have an excuse: I need rest, Chopper's words."

"Well here's dinner."

"Chopper doesn't let me sit… It's quite difficult to eat while lying down, besides the fact that I'm missing an arm."

Zoro raised an eyebrow "How did you eat lunch?"

Sanji made an annoyed sound "Luffy had to feed me… He would prefer if Nami had done it, but that idiot was determined on feeding me himself".

"Hell no! I'm not going to feed you!"

"Like I wanted you to do that shitty marimo. I meant that you should go ask some else."

"Well before I wanted to apologize for what I said the other night." The swordsman looked down to the floor "I didn't mean what I said".

"Well you better not have meant that… Insinuating that our captain would use someone like that." Sanji said a bit angry. "Well I'm nearly as bad for almost believing what you stupid-head said."

"Well I'm sorry." Zoro said trying his best to ignore the insult.

"You shouldn't apologize to me. You should apologize to Luffy for thinking such thing about him, even if it was for only a second."

"I think I already did." There was a silence between them for a while and then the green-haired teen said "Your mood has improved."

"I should thank those bounty hunters. I poured all my rage on them. My rage for them and my rage for you, so yeah, my mood went up."

"Thank them? Are you masoquist?"

"Stupid! I just liked the part where I kicked their asses. I don't thank them for breaking my freaking arm or tearing my chest open. The first thing I'm going to cook when I'm able to is roasted bear."

Zoro laughed at his statement "I wonder what it would taste like".

"It would taste like revenge… sweet and cold… Oh I would let it cool down, just because revenge is served cold."

Zoro laughed again "Man, I feel bad for the bear… Well I'm going to call Luffy to feed you."

"Luffy? No! Nami-san! Or Robin-chan!"

"Luffy it is then" He said smirking.

When he was about to open the door, he stopped and looked back, making the blond stop his protests. "I'm sorry for making you so upset" he said, leaving right away.

* * *

><p>Zoro was leaning against the railing looking at the moon's reflex on the ocean, when a certain orange-haired girl approached.<p>

"Did you apologize?"

"I did" he replied giving her a quick look.

"Sanji's amazing. Even if you said such unfair words towards him, he still got your back."

"What do you mean?" he asked frowning.

Nami looked confused. "Didn't you hear what happened in the forest?"

"He got attacked by some bounty hunters and a bear and then kicked their asses."

"You didn't hear the whole story?"

"No… I left. There was more?"

The navigator sighed. "Yes… Sanji's wanted poster is quite unrecognizable. Didn't you think it was strange they were after him?"

"I think it looks like him."

"Don't be stupid. They weren't after him. They didn't know he had a bounty, they were after you."

Zoro looked at her in shock "What?"

"One of them saw you take a nap on forest when you got lost. He recognized you from the wanted poster and when he was going to call the rest of them, he saw Sanji arriving, crushing his hopes of getting a huge bounty. Yesterday they found Sanji and decided to torture him to make him take them to you, which he refused."

"Tortured?"

"Sanji got a bit dizzy from that strike from the bear, which was an opportunity for them to beat him up, but he still didn't talk, so they decided breaking an arm could be more effective. They were wrong. So they thought of something else, they got a little but sharp knife and stabbed him in his abdomen with it and twisted it inside of him. They did it at least three times, because he has three holes in his belly. His luck was that they weren't too deep."

"That's sick!" Zoro had a disgusted look on his face and Nami knew he was imagining that scene. She too felt shivers every time she thought about.

"Sanji saw an opportunity and was able to release himself and kicked whoever was near him. Some of them ran in fear. This could have gone wrong as he passed out on his way to the ship, but he does a pretty good job when it comes to kicking."

She waited for the swordsman to say something and silence was all she got. "Sanji can be annoying sometimes, I admit. And I get that you two can't stand each other. But Sanji is a kind person. He's a bit like you actually, he pretends not to care about the others, excluding me and Robin, but he's one of the first ones to get there to help whoever needs. He's the person I've seen rescuing Luffy from the water the most." She paused and looked at the swordsman. He was looking at the sea once again, but she knew he was listening.

"Chopper told me that back at Water 7, when they heard about the flood that was coming, he and Sanji went near Going Merry where Usopp was and started yelling at each other talking about the flood so Usopp could hear them." Nami giggled "A plan kinda silly, but it was their way of trying to warn him indirectly."

"Sanji values the life of everyone of his nakama, just like you do. Those words you said to him were pretty harsh and he certainly didn't deserve to hear them. Do you remember when Luffy and Usopp had that huge discussion over Merry? Do you remember at what words Sanji snapped and threw a table at Luffy?"

Zoro felt a heavy weight on his chest at remembering that scene. Luffy had said «if you don't like my solution, you can just leave the ship immediately». Nami looked at Zoro's face and she was sure he was remembering it. He had his eyes shut and a deep expression on his face.

"I always thought that you two fight a lot because deep down you are alike, so I thought you knew him better."

"I didn't mean what I say, okay?"

"Then why did you say it?"

"I don't know…" Zoro shut his eyes and rubbed his forehead "It's complicated".

Nami raised an eyebrow at this. "Whatever" she said walking away.

Zoro sighed. He didn't like to be given a moral lesson and especially not from that sea-witch. He already knew everything she told him, except maybe that part about him and Chopper warning Usopp. He knew he had screwed up. But everything was alright now, right? Sanji seemed to be in a pretty good mood, at least for someone with those injuries.


	8. Trying to meditate

**Chapter 8 – Trying to meditate**

Chopper already knew his crewmates were inhuman, either in strength as in healing, but he still got surprised to see the next day that Sanji's wounds were healing better than he expected. He allowed him to sit, but he still didn't want him making too much effort such as walking, so Franky built him a wheel chair, so he wouldn't be confined to that little room that was the infirmary. The next day, with a lot of compliments to the doctor (who claimed it didn't make him happy), Sanji convinced him to let him walk, promising he would rest the most he could.

After breakfast, Zoro was in a good mood. The cook was finally back to doing job, even though he now needed help at the kitchen, since there were some tasks we couldn't do with only one arm, but bossing around Brook and Usopp he managed to make a delicious breakfast that Zoro had been missing, even though he wouldn't admit it out loud.

It was a splendid, warm and sunny day and he decided to meditate. And he decided to do it out on the deck, where it was usually louder, so it would be more challenging.

And he sure was right about it. He was almost entering that absent state of mind, when he heard a scream "LUFFY! USOPP! CHOPPER! GET AWAY FROM THE KITCHEN!" that voice belonged to the idiot-cook, no doubt about it.

"But I'm hungry Sanji!"

"You just ate breakfast! And you ate more than any of us" the stupid dart-brow kept yelling.

"But Sanjiiiii~".

"I swear that if any of you steps in that kitchen, I'll kick your ass, feed you to that freaking bear, cook it and eat it myself!" a vein popping on Zoro's forehead, how could he concentrate if that idiot kept on screaming?

"I-I g-gotta go!" he heard Usopp saying in scared tone, followed by a running sound.

"Sanji! You can't kick anyone! You promised me not to make any efforts" the doctor said worryingly. Sanji made an annoyed sound and a door slamming was heard afterwards.

Zoro sighed and went back to meditate. He finally got so focused that, some moments later, he didn't even hear or flinch when a loud sound of good amount of plates breaking burst through Thousand Sunny. However the yell that followed ripped him off that state of his right away.

"Damn you Brook!" sounds of a door being opened and bones hitting the floor announced that Sanji had thrown Brook out of the kitchen. "If you can't carry that many plates, don't carry them all at the same time!" a vein reappeared at the swordsman's forehead. Was it possible that all that shitty-cook could do that morning was yell?

"I'm sorry Sanji-san!"

"You better be! You owe me at least twenty freaking plates!"

"Woah! Sanji-san is scary, he's making my skin crawl in fear! Even though I don't have skin. Yohohohoho! Skeleton joke!"

"Don't test my patience Brook!" threatening all over the blonde's voice.

Zoro heard Brook run away with a frightened scream, while Sanji mumbled irritated "Why is everyone so determined in getting on my nerve today?"

The swordsman took some deep breaths, trying to calm himself and refocus. With all that yelling it sure was hard to concentrate, but nothing he couldn't deal with. In a matter of minutes he was there again, every step or voice through the deck ceased and even the sound of the sea or the wind shaking the trees stop existing. He was surrounded by the nothingness. He was alone… somewhere where nothing could disturb him. Or almost nothing…

"Nami-swan! Robin-chwan!"

Zoro felt his concentration shatter like it was glass.

"My beautiful flowers look so beautiful; such a warm sun makes you two look even more gorgeous."

A vein popped in Zoro's forehead a third time. That ero-cook was most certainly drooling at Nami, who was in a bikini sun-bathing, and Robin, who was next to her reading a book as usual.

"Hai, hai. Then please don't block the sun, Sanji-kun."

"I'm so sorry! Anything for my lovely ladies" that annoying tone of his was getting on Zoro's nerves.

"Is there something you need? Maybe Nami-san needs someone to put sunscreen on her back."

A second vein popped in Zoro's forehead. That perverted cook sure was irritating him. It really was bothering me. Rage was staring to form inside him.

"Robin already did that, so you don't have to…"

"The sun is pretty strong, are you sure you don't need a second layer? I don't want your lovely skin to get burned, Nami-san."

Zoro snapped.

"Be quiet you ero-cook!" He yelled getting up.

"Huh? What is it again you shitty-marimo?" Sanji's tone suddenly changed, turning aggressive.

"You're too damn loud, dart-brow. I can't concentrate!"

"I don't care if you can concentrate or not, you brainless head!"

"Shut up, freak-eyebrow!"

"Why are just shutting me up? They're a lot louder, moss-head!"

Zoro then noticed. Not too far from them, Brook was playing his violin, while Luffy and Usopp clapped their hands and sang in happy and loud voices. He had no idea why he didn't notice that before, they were being pretty loud. And on the other side there was Franky striking his poses and yelling "Super!" on top of his lungs with Chopper screaming "Whoa!" in admiration.

"Y-your voice is more annoying!" he replied trying to hide the fact that he had no idea why he didn't notice the chaos around him.

"What did you say, idiot-marimo?"

"Curlicue!"

"Asshole!"

"Shitty-cook!"

"Do you want to fight?"

"No fighting!" Heavy point Chopper was suddenly between the two of them. "Sanji, you can't fight… You should rest, come on" he said turning the blond around and pushing him away, but Sanji still snapped his neck around and continued yelling insults at the swordsman. "Yelling isn't good for your injuries too, so stop yelling please" the doctor pleaded, still pushing him towards the men's quarters to force him to rest.

"Tsk…" the cook finally faced forward and obeyed the doctor's orders.

Zoro watched those two walk into the men's quarters and then looked around. Franky had lost his audience, so he was now quietly chatting with Robin. Nami was still sun-bathing like nothing happened. It was awkwardly quiet.

"Oi where's Luffy, Usopp and Brook?" weren't they here being loud just some seconds ago?

"They went to the city" Robin informed.

"Yeah… Something about putting up a show" Franky noted. The older woman nodded.

"I heard them planning to earn money by performing in the city, so Brook can buy those plates he broke for cook-san."

"They're just going to embarrass themselves. But I don't care… As long as they don't come asking me for my money" Nami spoke.

* * *

><p>Luffy, Usopp and Brook had come back right on time for lunch talking excitedly about a festivity that apparently was going on in the city.<p>

"They're still making some preparations, I think the big deal is during the night, but there are already a lot of things going one!" Usopp said.

"They're selling cotton-candy everywhere Chopper!" Luffy said.

"Cotton-candy? Everywhere? Whoa!" the little reindeer was drooling and had his eyes shining.

"And Usopp-san won this glasses at some shooting game" Brook informed pointing at some star-shaped pink glasses he had over his eye-holes.

"Ah ah ah! It was too easy for me!" the sniper said in a cocky tone.

"This city is fun after all. Everyone has to come after lunch" the captain said excited. However the doctor gave a quick and worried look to his patient, which noticed it.

"It's okay Chopper… I'll stay here resting" Sanji said.

"What? You have to come too" Luffy sounded disappointed.

"Well if you rest during the afternoon, I'll let you go at night."

"Thank you doctor-san" the cook smiled widely.

"That doesn't make happy, you bastard" Chopper's words were completely opposite to his facial and corporal expressions.

"Hmmm… I guessed it's okay if Sanji stays now, as long as he comes at night. But you have to come with us after lunch Chopper!" the captain said.

The doctor once again gave a quick look at his patient, this time noted by the crew's sniper.

"It's okay Chopper, you can go. I'll stay here taking care of Sanji, since I already went in the morning."

"Oi I don't need a babysitter!" Sanji's protest was ignored.

"Are you sure Usopp?"

"Of course! You can count on me!"

"I'll give Chopper a denden mushi in case some emergency comes up" Nami stated.

"I'll stay here as well" Zoro yawned as he said this.

"I don't need a babysitter and certainly not two!" the cook protested again.

"I'm not staying here to babysit you, aho-cook. I just feel like taking a nap. I prefer to go at night."

* * *

><p>Everyone had already left to the city and Sanji was lying on his bed, as he had promised Chopper to rest. He wouldn't admit it to his doctor, but the truth was that walking around made his wounds hurt a bit more and lying down made the pain ease. However Sanji was not the kind of person who would stay on bed all day, so he convinced the little doctor that he was pain free and okay to walk. But right now he was tired. Aside from the pain, which he could take pretty well, he felt truly in need to rest. While making breakfast, he had to be standing, and even though he had help, he took him more time that usual to prepare it and the same happened at lunch. He also spent too much time in the morning walking around and yelling. All those together made him pretty tired. Something that normally wouldn't, but due to his injuries he had lost to much blood and it would take a while to restore. For that reason he would start feeling tired and weak too quickly.<p>

Chopper was right: if he wanted to go to the city at night, he needed to rest now. The blond was wondering about how much time it would take for his arm to heal, so he could cook properly, when a shout ripped him away from his thoughts.

"Let go off me!"

Was it that marimo's voice? He heard steps and unknown voices on the deck. What was going on? He got up quickly, feeling a bit dizzy from the sudden move and walked towards the door. He opened it and contemplated the scene before his eyes.

It was those fucking bounty hunters again!

* * *

><p><em>I had to make a skeleton joke... I'm sorry if it's a bad one. xD<em>

_Feel free to wonder why sanji disturbed zoro's meditation, while the rest of the chaos didn't._

_Reviews are very much appreciated =P_


	9. The bounty hunters

**Chapter 9 – The bounty hunters**

Sanji contemplated at the scene before him. The first thing that caught his eye was two freaking tall and large guys. Were they twins? Like one of them wouldn't be troublesome enough. Zoro was between them, and each of them were holding each of Zoro's arms, while he had his hands and feet tied and was desperately trying to get free. There was a good amount of men there that had turned their heads to Sanji at the sound of a door being open. One of them took a step forward with an evil grin.

"Look if it isn't our friend… Surprised to see you survived."

Sanji felt his rage build up inside him, but remained calm. He just took a cigarette, putted it in his mouth and lit it. Zoro had stopped struggling and was now staring at him. After releasing a big cloud of smoke into the air he spoke.

"There's something I've meaning to ask you these days."

"Oh I wonder what that is…" the same man said.

"Where's that freaking bear?"

"Well he couldn't climb aboard, could he?"

"That's too bad… because I really have been eager to make a damn bear soup!"

Before any of the men could register what was happening, the cook was already among them kicking whoever was at his reach. Zoro just stared at this scene amazed. He was not expecting the cook to come out and start fighting like this. He was wounded, seriously wounded. He shouldn't be kicking. And then he took glance of it, something he wished wasn't true, but the idiot-cook was wearing a white shirt, so it was impossible to miss it. And the enemies had noticed too, the swordsman could see that their faces, terrified just moments ago, had brightened up with a little confidence. Red spots appeared on the cook's white shirt over his chest and abdomen. His wounds were reopening.

"Oi Sanji! Stop it!" Zoro screamed at the top of his lungs, but the blond man ignored him. Instead he put one hand on the floor, moving his body until it was supported just by his good arm, while keeping his broken arm close to his body, spread his legs open and span, kicking at least five guys with this move. He landed on one of his knees and Zoro could see him panting. He was getting tired. And the red spots were getting bigger.

"Sanji! Stop fighting!" The swordsman yelled again, struggling once more to get free. He had to help Sanji. He couldn't fight all those guys with those injuries. Then he saw one man behind the cook pointing a gun to his head. "Sanji, behind you!"

This time he didn't ignore him and looked behind him.

PUM!

Sanji kicked the man in the chin; however he was a bit late. He was once again with one knee on the floor, his right hand over his right shoulder, since he couldn't use his left hand. Zoro stared horrified. Like getting his wounds reopened wasn't bad enough, he know had been shot on his shoulder.

Sanji heard a click and looked up. The man had gotten up and was now pointing the gun to his head once again. And Sanji knew he wasn't going to miss this time.

PUM!

A cloud of smoke surrounded the man's head, and after a few seconds he fell on the floor. Sanji knew damn right what had just happened. He looked around and saw his savior. Usopp was on an upper level, in front of the door that led to the kitchen. Sanji felt relieved, he forgot that Usopp was on the ship as well. The long-nosed boy had his knees shaking, but was trying to strike a confident pose.

"I-I'll be y-your op-opponent!"

The sniper had arrived in time to watch the cook being shot and he sure wasn't going to allow him to get shot one second time, and definitely not on the head. For some seconds he felt like a hero, but now that all heads were turned to him, he was feeling terrified. But he had to do something. Sanji had been shot and he was pretty sure his wounds were bleeding once again, he couldn't keep fighting. Their only chance was Zoro, since he knew he wouldn't be able to take all those guys by himself. He had to free Zoro.

He fired a ball to the middle of the deck and immediately a big cloud of smoke appeared covering the whole area enabling anyone to see what was happening around them. Usopp had memorized the exact position of Zoro and his swords. He dashed over to the swords' location, grabbed them and headed towards the swordsman. Using his swords he cut the ropes that were tying Zoro's wrists and ankles and handed him the swords.

With his hands and feet free and in possession of his three swords, Zoro was able to get rid of the two extremely big guys he was trapped between.

"Damn it Usopp! I can't see a damn thing now!"

"I'm on it!"

The long-nosed boy took out a breath dial and turned it on. The smoke was blown away and they could finally see clearly again. However what they saw didn't please them one bit. Sanji was being held by his throat by a big hand, his feet were inches away from the ground and his slender hand over the big and rough hand on his throat. They could see he was struggling for air. His legs were moving slightly, but he was too weak to kick.

Zoro felt a sudden rage took over and even Usopp swallowed in fear, feeling the dark aura emanating from the swordsman. One second later Sanji was felling on the floor along with a big and fat arm, while the man was screaming in pain and looking horrified to his missing limb. Zoro then proceeded to attack any man who dared to attack him. When no other man dared to go near him, fearing him to their bones, he spoke in the darkest voice he could.

"Take your injured men and leave. Take one step closer to us again and I promised I won't be as merciful as now" the men could not ignore the threat in his voice, the ones who had been lucky to have neither been kicked or slashed by a sword held the ones who were more seriously damaged and left running away accompanied by those who were injured, but still good enough to run.

Zoro then run towards Sanji and put an arm behind his back placing him in a more seated position, so he was resting on his arm. He was coughing and still struggling to breathe normally. Usopp was just looking at him horrified.

"What the hell are you waiting for? Call Chopper!" he yelled, snapping Usopp out of his trance, who immediately left running.

* * *

><p>Chopper reached the ship as fast as he could with Luffy right behind him, who happened to be with him when Usopp called him. As they walked into the deck, they saw a quite disturbing scene. Usopp was standing and looking horrified at an unconscious Sanji who was lying on the floor, his shirt covered in blood, resting on one of Zoro's arms who was screaming.<p>

"Oi Sanji! Sanji!" he kept yelling his name desperately. Usopp noticed the two newcomers and looked at them.

"Sanji's not breathing" he said in a whisper. Chopper and Luffy's eyes widened, but the moment they stepped closer, they heard a gasp announcing that Sanji was breathing again.

Zoro stopped yelling and just looked at the coughing man on his arm in disbelief. Then rage took over him again. "What the fuck were you doing? WERE YOU PULLING A FUCKING JOKE ON ME?" he yelled and started shaking the blond man violently. Chopper quickly turned into his heavy point and ripped the injured man from the other man's arms.

"Usopp quick! To the infirmary, I'll need help!"

Said man nodded and followed the doctor. The green-haired man was still yelling in rage something about a joke. Luffy rested a hand on his shoulder.

"He's not pulling a joke on anyone. I don't think he's even conscious" the captain mumbled. "Please tell me what happened."

* * *

><p>Zoro was sitting on the grass, with his head buried on his hands. After he told Luffy what happened, the captain left to check on the cook's condition and it has passed almost an hour ever since. Zoro had calmed himself a bit, but he was still mad. He was mad at the damn shitty-cook for getting into a fight that was not his and almost getting himself killed. He shivered at the thought of what would have happened if Usopp hadn't appeared that moment. It was like that moment in Thriller Bark.<p>

When Sanji stood between him and Kuma, offering his life instead of Zoro's, he felt an excruciating pain at the thought of the cook dying. That couldn't happen. The shitty-cook would never die, would he? He would be there by his side for the rest of his life, annoying the hell out of him. It didn't even make sense not having that annoying bastard by his side. The thought of Sanji dying there was so unbearable that he found enough strength to stand and knock the cook out.

Interrupting his thoughts, he heard steps and looked up, seeing Luffy grinning widely with Usopp walking next to him.

"It's good that Sanji finally woke up" the captain said.

"Sanji woke up?" Zoro couldn't avoid asking this.

"Yeah… but Chopper threw us out, saying he needs rest" Usopp informed.

The swordsman felt rage reappearing inside him. He was getting mad again. He stood up and walked past the two now confused boys. He reached the infirmary and slammed the door open with all his fury.

"DO YOU HAVE A FUCKING DEATH WISH, COOK?" he yelled angrily.

Sanji and Chopper stared at him shocked.

"Oi what the hell is your problem?"

"Do you have a death wish or not? Didn't Chopper tell you not to fight? That if your wounds reopened and you bled more, it could be deadly?" he kept on yelling.

Chopper wanted to stop Zoro and tell him that Sanji needed rest, but something inside him stopped him of doing so. He knew Zoro was holding some emotions from what happened earlier and needed to let it all out. Reflecting on this, Chopper decided to leave the room.

"Well do you have a death wish as well? What was I supposed to do? Let them lead you to your execution?"

"That was not your fight. You shouldn't have interfered. You almost got yourself killed" Zoro couldn't stop yelling, he was too mad.

"How could I face Luffy if they had taken you? «Sorry I was too injured and weak to fight those guys, so I let them take one of your nakama»? I don't regret one bit what I did."

"You don't regret it because Usopp saved your fucking life."

"I wouldn't regret even if I had died. I rather die than let them take one of my nakama."

"You're just plain stupid" Zoro accused him, since he couldn't think of any other comeback. "You were just trying to play hero. Just like at Thriller Bark!"

He saw a flash on Sanji's eye and he frowned into an angrier face. He had finally pissed him off.

"I wasn't playing hero, you jerk! Not today and definitely not at Thriller Bark!"

"Really? What else would you offer your life, when it would be more likely for him to take my head instead of Luffy, since I have the higher bounty?"

"You have a fucking dream! And you need a lot more time if you freaking want to be the best swordsman in the world!"

"You have a dream too! And like I said how can I become the best swordsman in the world if I can't protect my captain?"

"I never forgave you for knocking me out cold there!" the blond teen yelled. "The day I met you, the freaking first day I met you, I saw you fight Mihawk. I saw your determination of becoming the best swordsman in the world. Only you can do that. No one else can do that for you."

"What are you talking about?"

"If I died… If I died I'm sure Luffy would find All Blue for me. I have no doubts about it. He could fulfill my dream for me, but he could never fulfill yours. He could easily find another cook to replace me. But he would never find a Santoryu user to become the best swordsman in the world anywhere else."

"Like I said you're just plain stupid" Zoro said, turning his back on him, so he couldn't see the surprise on his face. Then he just left.

Sanji's fist was shaking, since he was still boiling with anger. He took deep breathes trying to calm himself down. That ungrateful bastard! Couldn't he just thank him for saving his fucking life? He had to bring Thriller Bark matter up. He hated thinking about what happened there, because every time he thought about it, he couldn't help but feel useless and pathetic. Compared to Zoro who bore all Luffy's injuries over his owns, he was just a useless and pathetic idiot, who got knocked out cold by his nakama. Shameful.

After some minutes since Zoro left, Chopper reappeared.

"Sanji lay down. You have to rest."

"I'm sorry Chopper. That idiot got me yelling."

"I think Zoro's just worried about you."

"No he's not. He's just frustrated he couldn't do anything and had to have his ass saved by an injured man. More specifically: me!"

Chopper looked at him unconvinced "Just sleep now and don't think about it".

* * *

><p><em>So this chapter has a bit more action. I really hope you enjoyed it and understood, since I'm not very good at describing actions.<em>

_As you might have noticed I'm terrible at coming up with title for the chapters -_-'  
><em>

_And Usopp is the hero! xD_

_As always reviews are very much appreciated =)_


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